Improvement in mail-bag catches



A. B. WHIPPLE.

Mail-Bag Catches. r No. 168,860. Patented0ct.19,l875.

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UNITED STATES PATnn r rion.

ALFRED B. WHIPPLE, or AUBURN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAIL-BAG CATCHES. a

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 168,860, dated October 19, 1875; application filed September 27, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED B. WHIPPLE, of Auburn, in the county ot'Gayuga and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Mail-Bag (latchers, to be attached to railroad cars and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents in perspective the bagcatcher as attached to the side of a car or cardoor, and set ready for action. Fig. 2 represents a similar perspective view, showing the bag-catcher as swung. up out of the way, as when not in use. Fig.3 represents in perspectivethe bag-catcher as it appears when detached from the cars. Fig. 4 represents a locking mechanism to hold the catcher in place when it is set for receiving and holding the mail-bag.

My invention relates to a mechanism to be attached to the side of a mail 'or other car, which,-when the car is in motion, will not only catch but hold the mail-bag which has been previously arranged upon its post or arms to be received by it; and my invention consists in the combination of hinged and swiveling arms, as will be hereinafter particularly described.

A represents a portion of the side of a car, or of a door or window frame therein and B, Upon this frame or side two bearing plates or boxes, to b, are arranged to receive the ends of a bent andforked rod, 0, and admit of the turning otsaid rod within them. The rod 0 has attached to it an arm, 01, which stands at an acute angle in relation to, and may be longer than, the rod 0; and where the rod 0 enters the bearing or box I), there isinterposed a rubber or other cushion, e, to relieve the shock of the mailbag when it is caught by it.

To the plate or bearing a, or to the frame B, near by it, there is connected a block or clippiece, in which the two arms 9 and h are pivoted, so as to swing in a horizontal direction; and these arms have also,-each of them, a rule-joint, as at i, by which they may be swung upward, but cannot descend below a given point defined by said rule-joint or its mechanical substitute. On the frame or side A there is also attached a keeper, j, for holding the arm y when it is swung up to hold the catcher close to the side of the car when not to be immediately used.

To the bar 0 there is attached a handle, It, for turning said bar by, either in setting the catcher or for swinging it up out of the way, or for bringing the mail-bag into more convenient position for being released from the catcher and bolder.

On the inside of the car or frame A there is a catch-piece, l, which, when slid out and fastened by the pin m, as seen at Fig. 4, will receive the handle is in its forked end, and hold it so that the rod ccannot then turn, or the catcher be moved out of its active or working position. When the catcher has received the bag, then the pin can be withdrawn, the slide or catch moved back, and the catcher is then free to be moved up against and held close to the side of the car by the arm 9, as seen in Fig. 2, the other arm h lying upon or against the rod 0.

To prevent the arms 9 h from reacting too freely after they have received the mail-bag, as also to prevent rattling or noise, rubber or other similarly frictional or elastic material may be interposed between the hub-ends thereofand the block or clip-piece, to which they are pivoted, and in which they turn.

When the apparatus is set for catching a mailbag, as seen in Fig. 1, the mail-bag in passing into the fork composed of or by the rods 0 d, the bag, striking against the arm It, causes it, as also its mate or fellow g, to swing horizontally, and as that h moves along in advance of the bag, the other arm, 9, comes up against the bag, driving it farther into the fork, and holds it there. When the bag has been received and taken into the car, then the apparatus is swung up against the side of the car, and is held there out of the way, as seen in Fig. 2.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Let-- ters Patent, is

In a mail-bag catcher and holder, the combination of pivoted rods'c dand arms 9 ll, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

ALFRED B. WHIPPLE.

Witnesses:

A. B. SroUeHToN, EDMUNn MASSON. 

